mCommerce: Mobile commerce – or M-commerce – is the fastest growing area of retail. Retailers are scrambling to catch up with the rapid growth of smartphones and how they’re changing the way we shop. About quarter of consumers have used their smartphone to access websites while out shopping. Tesco (Home Plus) reckon they’ve got a captive audience to try out their latest technology at Gatwick’s North Terminal. It’s also one of the busiest times of the year with tens of thousands of passengers with a lot of time to kill between flights.

“We don’t think it’s a gimmick – it’s a taste of the future,” says Mandy Minichiello, marketing manager for Tesco.com. “In 2016, about 90% of all mobiles will be smartphones. Tesco virtual shopping mobile app. A mobile app scans the QR CODE and orders the selected items. “We’re doing this as a trial to try to get some customer feedback. We’re keen to make customers lives as easy as possible. “Increasingly, they want to shop on the go.”

Tesco was a pioneer of internet retailing and has more than a million online customers. They’ve also done a similar experiment in South Korea, where commuters pointed their mobile phones at billboards in subways and bus stops. These have become a permanent fixture.

The UK trial goes further with an interactive feature. “It’s significant they’re doing this before other mainstream retailers have got in on the act,” says Neil Saunders, managing director with retail consultancy Conlumino. “It shows that Tesco are determined to make a success in the mobile retail environment and the potential for growth.”

Changing fast – Other retailers will be watching closely. According to mobile retail strategy consultancy Velti, the industry is changing fast. Tesco virtual shopping: Tesco insist the idea is not just a gimmick. “Retailers are struggling to keep up,” says Matt Cockett, vice president of sales at the company. “A mobile strategy is key for any retailer because the revenue has more than doubled in the past 12 months.

“Mobile investment is about how you develop a strategy and manage to take advantage of the oncoming rapid changes in technology. He added: “The Holy Grail is to connect the data touch points and to get a comprehensive view of each individual customer. “Retailers need to consider all touch points that drive mobile traffic to support online, mobile and in-store, and ultimately increase conversion rate.” Retail is increasingly all about making it as easy and convenient as possible for consumers to part with their cash.

Perhaps it won’t be too long before the Tesco experiment will come to a bus stop or train station near you.

Learn Digital Marketing

This special two days comprehensive course is all about tapping social media sites potential for branding, sales, public relations, and much more.

For whom? This course is for anyone interested in advertising and marketing, corporate types, small businesses, educators, and everyone in between.

Marketers who already use Facebook, etc., but wants greater success.

New marketers and IT professionals who wants a kick-start.

Entrepreneurs seeking to promote their products and / or services in social media space.

Teaching professionals who would like to first learn and then teach the subject: Digital Marketing.

Advertising agency and public relations officers seeking an edge in social media marketing.

SME who wants more friends, business, and prominence for their brand.

Students to learn cutting-edge technology ahead of others and for better placement.

How many days? Day one is introduction, discussion, case studies, question / answer and actual demo of TWENTY digital platforms. Day two is hands-on with advance techniques, where you can actual get started with social media websites. On both days, you may bring your laptop to experience the thrill of social media.

When? DAY 1 – Saturday, 18 May, 2013. DAY 2 – Sunday, 26 May 2013.Time? Both days 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. [8:30 to 9:00 Breakfast and intro]Program outline: Day one is for beginners – twenty digital platforms will be introduced, and day two is advance topics. If you already know little bit about social media you may come directly for the Day 2. Authentic training material from Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn will be used for training besides lots of CASE STUDY and examples.

For more info do not hesitate to contact Jyotindra Zaveri (aka Jyoti).Benefit: This Social Media Marketing training will give you insights about – how to leverage tools like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogging, LinkedIn, online videos to increase your online visibility, reach new customers & build brand loyalty, viral marketing.
Some of the topics that will be covered in the practical training.

How to make your own unique newspaper. Click here to see example.

How NOT to use Facebook. Security guidelines.

Pinterest Boards for Branding and CRM.

Steps to create a successful viral campaign.

Leveraging festivals and bank holidays (there are numerous, you know).

Evaluating the risks and opportunities of your business on social media sites.

Building customer relationships online and interactive marketing.

A guide to blog rules and social media marketing guidelines document.

Facebook / LinkedIn paid marketing campaigns.

Questions about ‘Social Media Marketing’? But you do not know whom to ask? Here is a chance to stay ahead of competition. No previous experience or knowledge about internet technologies required, for first session.

You are welcome if you are net savvy, but don’t’ worry we will not be discussing bits & bytes to understand and operate networking sites. Do not worry this is not computer program course.
Accelerate your career. By the way, MBA in marketing or IT is not enough; learn new trends by attending this unique training program.Faculty: Mr. Zaveri is specializing in Internet marketing using various digital platforms. He has mastered twenty digital platforms. Thousands of training programs conducted successfully by Prof. Zaveri. He is IT professional since …1975. Formerly with IBM, specially trained in Germany. He will personally take both days classes. Author of eight books including a book on ERP.

Click here to view complete profile of faculty Jyoti sir.Important: Jyoti can set up and manage your digital platforms. I also undertake in-house training assignment.
Value proposition: One week FREE email support by Jyoti. Post training email discussions makes the time and money spent in your training more valuable.Course fees: Please email j.zaveri@dnserp.com Note: Second session is for advance social media optimization techniques. Optional: You may bring your laptop for both sessions with your own USB modem.

Early bird discount: 10% discount if registered one week before the session date, if enrolled before 11th May 2013.
Additional group discount: 10% for two or more from same organization.

How to register? Send email giving your name, designation, organization, website and mobile number to j.zaveri@dnserp.com WITH cheque details.

Domain Knowledge is the knowledge of a particular industry

Domain knowledge is the knowledge about the environment in which the business organizations operates, and it encompasses the understanding of the industry dynamics, history, sectors and segments, business model, competitive landscape, value chain, customers, supply chain, challenges and the industry specific strategies of the target enterprise.

Domain knowledge is necessary because it provides the ability to make good judgments and quick decisions and empower the users to deal with complex business situations. For implementing e-commerce project it is necessary to learn about the business that you are trying to automate on the internet. Gaining understanding of the industry means a smarter analysis, clearer logic underlying business decisions, closer attention to key dimensions of implementation and operation, and more disciplined performance management.

On the lighter side, here is a joke:

Get Domain expertise

There was a family with one kid. One day the mother was out and dad was in charge of the kid, who just turned three.

Someone had given the kid a little ‘tea set’ as a birthday gift and it was one of her favourite toys. Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when kid brought Daddy a little cup of ‘tea’, which was just water. After several cups of tea and lots of praise for from father for such yummy tea, kid’s Mom came home.Dad made her wait in the living room to watch the kid bring him a cup of tea, because it was ‘just the cutest thing!!’Mom waited, and sure enough, the kid comes down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy and she watches him drink it up, then she says to him, ‘Did it ever come to your mind that the only place that baby can reach to get water is the toilet??’….Mothers know!Moral Of The Story: Domain knowledge is very important! Else your project may fail.

Communicating between end-users and software developers is often difficult. They must find a common language to communicate in. It is necessary to learn the jargon (vocabulary) to communicate effectively. The consultant may play an important role to bridge the gap between business executives and software engineers.

Examples of Domain Knowledge that may require for a project in the respective business category.

Automotive Domain.

Banking Domain.

Education Domain.

Engineering Domain.

FMCG Domain.

Retail Domain.

Telecom Domain.

Travel Domain.

In ERP / e-commerce project, domain knowledge is knowledge about the environment in which the target system operates. Domain knowledge is important, because it usually must be learned from software users in the domain (as domain specialists/experts), rather than from software developers. Expert’s domain knowledge is transformed in computer programs and active data, for example in a set of rules in knowledge bases, by knowledge engineers.

Due priority should be given by all stakeholders on 31 March 13 in India

Financial Year in India

Year-end procedure.

In India, the accounting year is April to March. Accounting year 12-13 has ended on 31st March 2013. Important procedure is given below to plan the ‘year ending’ in ERP. Due priority should be given by the stakeholders. There are two kinds of closing balances that needs to be focused:

For efficient supply chain management it is necessary to record physical stock of all locations such as depot, warehouse, godowns stores, cold storage (if any), CFA, distributors, and so on.

It is important to note that both inventory and accounts are tightly linked in ERP. FAQ: “Can we enter creditor / debtor balance and closing stock, later?” The answer is NO.

Step-by-step procedure to GO LIVE is as follows:

1. Before doing anything take backup. Copy on once writeable CD; take the backup media to another location (different building).
2. Task: Enter closing stock for Inventory items.
3. Count stock. This exercise should be done very carefully. This is important for ‘going-live’.
4. Enter the closing stock, as on the cut-off date, from that date onwards, ERP will prepare the inventory related books, as well as accounts books, automatically.
5. E.g. closing balance as on March 31, mid night is opening balance for April 01.

6. Task: Enter ALL items in the item master.
It is strongly recommended that for EACH location stock balance be taken. E.g. stores, rejection location, scrap location, WIP (work-in-process), third-party (subcontractor location), etc.
7. Task: Take location master printout (excel sheet showing all locations) from the ERP (not from Tally). The list will also show names of subcontractor locations.
8. Bought out items, raw material, consumables, spares, etc. Items that are supplied by vendors (supplier).
9. Sub-assemblies, semi-finished goods, factory made item, etc. This may include items that are received from third-party, if it is semi-finished goods. (WIP).
10. Finished Goods, (FG or product that usually appears in the sales invoice).

11. Task: Prepare the Item list using ERP software instant excel sheet option. You can prepare category, sub-category wise, separate list. Give to concerned person to take physical stock (count) and write on the excel sheet itself, put date and sign. This is strongly recommended to avoid confusion of item code / description.
12. Use this list (hard copy) to enter closing stock figures in ERP.
13. From that moment onwards, every transaction must go through ERP.
14. Depending on your judgement estimate time required to do the physical count and the exercise to enter the data in ERP. This will depend on number of persons allocated for the task.
15. During the stock taking activity, there should be NO material movement. All goods inward and sales issue has to be suspended. For instance some companies would like to do this exercise on 1, 2 and 3 April and start the year on 4 April 08. Some companies stop the manufacturing activity on 30 and 31 Match.

16. You may find items that are physically present but not in the list – enter in the item master and enter closing balance.
17. Account Closing Balance are required for the following:

Debtor (customer),

Creditor (vendor, service provider, and third-party) balance pertaining to 11-12 balance will be carried forward automatically.

Pass JV (cr. Note or debit note if necessary to get the correct balance). Make sure the bank-reconciliation exercise is done well in time for ensuring correct ‘Trial Balance’ statement in ERP.

18. In case you have already gone “Live”:
Count physical stock for each item and write on the excel sheet printout, next to ERP stock statement (book stock) figure. Ideally, both should be same. If not write the difference (plus or minus). You will have to get explanation from stores-in-charge and pass SAN (stock adjustment note) to get the book stock same as physical stock.
19. You may find item that are shown as stock in hand but there is no such item. Check that there is no confusion in item name. Any case one must reconcile the stock.

20. You will have to do this exercise for each location. Especially stock lying with the third-party (if any).
21. Print separate list for FG, WIP, Stores items, consumables, packing material, etc. from ERP software.
22. You will need people so plan in advance, inform your team (staff), this is not one or two persons task. More people are required depending on number of location, size of the inventory, and so on.
23. At the time of login, into the ERP, select appropriate year (the first screen where you give log in name and password).
24. New document number series will start from the New accounting Year – e.g. April 1, 2012.
25. ERP System will allow you to enter 11-12 transactions even in April 2010, (for this select year 11-12). Finally, when the audited Balance Sheet is available one can make a “closing JV (Journal Voucher). This may be sometime in April / May 12. Whereas the current year (11-12) transaction can be entered from 1st April itself (these will be in new document series).
26. Cut-off date is ‘as on’ date in the Closing Balance data entry screen.
27. In item ledger and item stock statement ‘From’ date should NOT be less than Closing Balance, date that is used for entering closing balance.
28. User must press ‘enter’ key after entering the closing balance stock.
29. Once closing stock is entered, user should check, and if mistake is found, then enter again; this will over-write previous figure. Once all closing balance is checked, printed and confirmed then REMOVE access to the closing Balance menu-using user manage. No one should enter again cl. Bal. because this is one time exercise.
30. Only after disabling, the cl. Bal. menu user should be allowed to enter inventory transactions.

31. Closing balance Rate or value:

While entering stock closing balance, user also should enter rate. This is required to calculate the value.

For item that are purchased from outside – pl. enter the Weighted Average Rate (WAR) rate (weighted average rate), or last purchase Rate, if WAR rate is not available.

For all factory made items – SFG (Semi-Finished Goods or sub-assemblies) or FG (Finished Goods)– user should enter ‘cost rate’.

Video lecture (excerpts) about the year ending.

Case study video clip:
Marico, ITC, Emami. “Emami’s recent investment in I. T. has ensured finalization of its balance sheet in a record 35 days against the 60-day norm”.

Hope you are ready to embrace the New Year with more confidence and financial discipline that is so important in the competitive world.

Use mobile based or tabs based Apps and business management software for efficient business management.

Achieve the leading edge in this highly competitive market.

Use ERP on Android / Windows / iPhone based Apps

You want productive employees and they want the freedom to use mobile applications to get their work done.

Business on the Go

Go Mobile Business advantage:

Already implemented business solutions to manage inventory, pre-sales, sales, sales and distribution, warehouse management, purchase, and many other areas of operation.

Specialist in Enterprise Software solution with a proven track-record. Option of cloud based database so no need for in-house Server.

Option of cloud based database so no need for in-house Server.

Specializing in understanding business requirements, identify bottle-necks and stream-line business process to push the report on the mobile directly to users– for efficient management. Option of linking payment gateway if required. Software will be optimized to operate on Smartphone or Tabs.

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This Blog got about 3,900 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this Blog, it would have taken 7 years to get that many views.

Grocery shopping can be quite an ordeal, long aisles with multiple signs, constantly changing sections, and distracting food samples comes between you and your final destination, the checkout. Large malls will be coming up in India due to recent change in the Government policy pertaining to the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). But, what about old people who gets lost in the large super markets? God help ‘Kirana‘ (old style small corner shop) store.

What is GPS? The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a space-based satellite navigation system that provides location, anywhere on the Earth. It is maintained by the United States government and is freely accessible to anyone with a GPS receiver.

To tackle this growing social issue, technologists across the world have invented a special shopping cart with a GPS system, for malls that leads confused shoppers to their desired targets, that is check-out or the POS terminal. Targeted for senior citizens: Do you think a GPS-enabled shopping cart could be a boon to shoppers, who have been known to go to buy just milk and return with Rs.1000/- worth of junk food?

In the back-end the ERP system will also be recording analyzing data for the ‘Business Intelligence’ (BI) to prepare reports that will tell the sellers information pertaining to fast selling items required by the senior citizens. This kind of stores will become ‘Senior Citizen Friendly’ store, and from the CRM point of view this may attract more older people too.

This appears to be a good idea for the consumers, but the marketing people in the supermarket may not like this. They have spent lacks of Rupees analyzing consumers’ shopping habits; that is why layouts keep changing. It is specifically to lure customers to spend more time wandering around the aisles, in a hope that the buyer will spend money on things they did not know about but would happily buy. Next, you may find Apps on your iPhone (or the Android smartphone) that will tell you where you are and which way is the Exit. Do you think this will really help senior citizens ?

[Source: This post is based on information from switch. com and device. com]

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Learn CRM, Supply chain management and Enterprise Resource Planning software. This web sites are good reference for various key functions managers, such as accounts, purchase, sales, production, etc. It is not just additional resource but also a companion sites for corporate commandos.

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Social Media Business EvangelistJyotindra Zaveri (a.k.a. Jyoti) is a senior Social Media Marketing Consultant and TrainerIT professional since ...1975 with academic credentials in electronics and electrical engineering from VJTI, Mumbai, India. Formerly worked in IBM, trained in Germany. BUSINESS INFO:1. Organizations outsource their Social Media Marketing […]

Crossword Puzzle focusing on Digital MarketingAnswer Social media crossword puzzle answerCluesAcross2. Leading Social media agency (5,6) (Tip Jyoti Social)5. What not to do frequently on Social Media? (4,7)6. Distribute brochures electronically (10)8. The number one digital platform (8)10. Digital marketing where money is (9) (Tip Mobile)11. Sr Social Media […]

Crossword Puzzle focusing on Digital Marketing. Please try to solve and give your answers in the Comment or by Messenger! Clues:Across2. Leading Social media agency (5,6) (Tip Jyoti Social)5. What not to do frequently on Social Media? (4,7)6. Distribute brochures electronically (10)8. The number one digital platform (8)10. Digital marketing where money is (9 […]